Recap: Sea Dogs lose 6-5

FINAL: Saint John 5, Bathurst 6

BATHURST - The Saint John Sea Dogs couldn't quite complete a second half comeback on Saturday at the KC Irving Regional Centre, falling 6-5 to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

The Sea Dogs were trailing 6-1 and getting outplayed by the Titan as the midway mark of the second period approached. But then things slowly started to turn. Saint John would score twice in the second while outshooting Bathurst 21-7. Then in the third, the Dogs scored two more and outplayed the Titan until the final minutes.

Ultimately, Saint John couldn't net the equalizer and dropped their first game of the pre-season, falling to 4-1-0-0.

William Dufour, making his Sea Dogs pre-season debut, scored twice for Saint John while singles came from Charles Savoie, Peter Reynolds and Brady Burns. Jonathan Lemieux, also making his Saint John pre-season debut, allowed six goals on 20 shots. Noah Patenaude stopped all 14 shots he faced in the second half of the game.

Bennett MacArthur, as he always does, scored twice for Bathurst. Cole Larkin, Cole Huckins, Hendrix Lapierre and Ben Allison also scored. Chad Arsenault allowed two goals on 17 shots while Jan Bednar allowed three on 26.

LINEUP

MacDonald - Reynolds - Francis

Burns - Lawrence - Dufour

Foston - Savoie - Bezeau

McCluskey - Laforge - Watt

Poirier - DesRoches

Drapeau - Villeneuve

Inniss - Despont

Roode

Lemieux

Patenaude

DEBUTS: Cole Foston, acquired in a trade with the Halifax Mooseheads on Friday, made his Sea Dogs pre-season debut along with off-season acquisitions William Dufour and Jonathan Lemieux. Brady Burns, Ryan Francis, William Villeneuve, Christopher Inniss and Jeremie Poirier all played in their first pre-season games of the year.

NHL CAMPERS: For an August exhibition game, there was a whole lot of talent suited up for both sides. The Sea Dogs had eight players dressed who will attend NHL camps this fall while the Titan had 10.

NOTES: Defensemen Hunter Gartley served the first game of a two-game suspension he received for a cross check in Wednesday's contest... Gordie Dwyer and Stefan Legein once again ran the Sea Dogs bench... William Villeneuve, Charlie DesRoches and Ryan Francis each wore an 'A' on their jersey... William Dufour recorded two goals and two assists in his Sea Dogs pre-season debut... Brady Burns had seven shots... Riley Kidney had three assists... Vincent Despont is going to be a lot of fun to watch this year... this game was a little chippy - as you would expect given how many times these two have played each other in the calendar year... the Titan public address announcer did not "woo" after announcing goals for the home team... the announced attendance was 550.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Moncton Wildcats in Fredericton on Sept. 10 at 7 p.m.